A US carrier strike group is heading to the Gulf as tensions with Iran escalate.
The last major U.S. military buildup in the Middle East was in June, just days before Israel attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities during its 12-day war with Tehran.
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US President Donald Trump supported Iranian anti-government protesters this month. As the government cracks down, he said, “help is on the way.” But last week he toned down his military rhetoric. The protests were then suppressed.
So what are the US military assets moving to the Gulf? And is the US preparing to attack Iran again?
Why is the US moving warships?
President Trump said Thursday that the U.S. “armada” is heading to the Gulf region with Iran as its focus.
U.S. officials said the carrier strike group and other forces were expected to arrive in the Middle East within days.
“We’re watching Iran. We have great leverage toward Iran,” Trump said.
“And we probably won’t have to use it. … We have a lot of ships heading in that direction. Just in case, we have a large convoy heading in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” he added.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln changed course from the South China Sea toward the Middle East more than a week ago. Its carrier strike group includes Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles that can strike targets deep in Iran.
U.S. warships bound for the Middle East are also equipped with the Aegis combat system, providing air and missile defense against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and other air threats.
When Washington attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, the U.S. military reportedly launched 30 Tomahawk missiles from submarines and attacked with B-2 bombers.
Asked Thursday if he wanted Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei to step down, President Trump said: “I don’t want to go into it, but they know what we want. There’s been a lot of murder.”
He also reiterated his claim that his threat of force prevented Iranian authorities from executing more than 800 protesters, a claim Iranian officials deny.
An anonymous U.S. official told Reuters that additional air defense systems for the Middle East are being considered and could be important in preventing Iranian attacks on U.S. military bases in the region.
Iranian state media said the protests killed 3,117 people, including 2,427 civilians and members of the security forces.
How widespread is the U.S. military presence in the Middle East?
The United States has operated military bases in the Middle East for decades, with 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers stationed there.
The United States operates an extensive network of at least 19 permanent and temporary military locations in the region, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Eight of these are permanent bases and are located in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The United States first sent troops to the Middle East in July 1958, when a combat unit was sent to Beirut. At its peak, approximately 15,000 Marines and Army soldiers were stationed in Lebanon.
The US Navy movement to Iran was ordered despite the release of a new national defense strategy on Friday. The document is produced every four years by the Department of Defense, and the latest security blueprint outlines the withdrawal of U.S. forces from other parts of the world in favor of security in the Western Hemisphere.
How did Iran react?
Ali Abdullahi Aliabadi, who heads the coordination of Iran’s military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, warned Thursday that a military attack on Iran would turn all U.S. military bases in the region into “legitimate targets.”
General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said two days later that Iran was “more ready and pulling the trigger than ever before.”
He warned the United States and Israel to “avoid miscalculation.”
This month, the U.S. government withdrew some personnel from bases in the Middle East after Tehran threatened to attack the bases if it launched an attack on Iranian territory.
Foreign Minister Abbas Aragushi also said in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that Iran would “fight back with all its might” if attacked.
“An all-out showdown would certainly be intense and last far longer than the fantasy timeline that Israel and its proxies are trying to impose on the White House.”
Has air traffic stopped?
Some, but not all, flights have been grounded due to rising tensions between the United States and Iran.
Air France canceled two flights from Paris to Dubai over the weekend. “To ensure the highest level of flight safety and security, we continuously monitor the geopolitical situation in the regions in which our aircraft operate and over which they fly,” the company said in a statement. The flight then resumed.
Luxair said in a statement to The Associated Press that it had postponed Saturday’s flight from Luxembourg to Dubai for 24 hours “in view of the tensions and insecurity affecting the region’s airspace, and in line with measures taken by several other airlines.”
Arrivals at Dubai International Airport revealed that Saturday’s flights from Amsterdam by Dutch airlines KLM and Transavia Airlines have been cancelled. Some KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, were also canceled on Friday and Saturday.
Has the US imposed new sanctions on Iran?
In parallel with continued efforts to increase pressure on Iran, the United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a fleet of nine vessels and their owners that Washington accused of transporting hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian crude oil to foreign markets in violation of sanctions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions were imposed because Iran had “shutdown internet access to cover up abuses” against its people during its crackdown on nationwide protests.
Bessent said the sanctions “target a key part of how Iran generates the funds used to oppress its own people.”
U.S. officials said the nine vessels targeted – sailing under the flags of Palau, Panama and other jurisdictions – are part of a shadow fleet that smuggles sanctioned goods from Russia and Iran, among others.
Protests in Iran began on December 28, triggered by the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial, and intensified over the next two weeks.
On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution condemning Iran’s appalling crackdown on protests.
At a meeting in Geneva, Iranian envoy Ali Bahaini reiterated the government’s claim that 3,117 people were killed in the violence, 2,427 of whom were killed by “terrorists” armed and financed by the United States, Israel and their allies.
“It is ironic that countries historically tainted by genocide and war crimes are now trying to lecture Iran about social governance and human rights,” he said.
The US-based Human Rights Defenders News Agency said it had confirmed at least 5,137 deaths during the protests and was investigating 12,904 others.
